


Come On, Tony...

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Hurt Tony, Survival, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-19 06:24:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19969486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In which Tony is injured and Steve is at a loss.





	Come On, Tony...

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by the lovely HogwartsToAlexandria <3

When Steve came back with the firewood, Tony was obsessively picking out the blood and dirt from beneath his fingernails. Exhausted, achy, and feverish, his eyes were glassy and stared blankly into the fire.  _ Pick, pick, pick _ . Steve could hear the sound of the piece of metal scraping against Tony’s nails, even over the crackling of the fire. Sighing, he laid the little beach wood he had collected and eased himself down next to Tony, taking the object from his hands.

“You’ll have to get out of the rest of that suit eventually, shellhead,” he said sympathetically, trying to catch his gaze. Little by little, he had coaxed Tony into disassembling certain parts of the suit so that he could better gauge the other man’s injuries.

At hearing Steve’s voice, Tony took a long, shuddering breath and blinked, as if Steve’s words had suddenly brought him back to awareness. He kept doing that, Steve noticed, going all glassy-eyed and vacant. He hadn’t been able to coax the helmet off of Tony just yet, but he knew that he had to be bleeding beneath all that metal. 

They had fled the jet just in time before a missile blew it to pieces, but a wing had propelled towards Tony’s head as they dived into the ocean, knocking him unconscious. After Steve had dragged his frigid metal corpse onto the beach, he’d retracted his gauntlets and clutched Steve’s body close, fingers digging into the bloody suit stuck to Steve’s skin.

“Tony, hey, look at me. Let’s take off your helmet next, yeah?” He suddenly remembered the interface to Tony’s AI. 

Tony might not have been able to communicate with it, but Steve could. Except, if Tony did have a concussion, Steve could make it worse by removing his only aid. Who knew how bad his concussion was after so many hours? Would Steve really risk Tony’s life for something that may not even work? 

Growing anxious, Steve closed his eyes and considered his options. They had a disassembled jet blown to pieces in the ocean, where all their food, water, and first aid supplies were likely sinking to the bottom. They were on a tropical island, but it was small and had little resources besides wood. Every hour, the temperature seemed to drop by three degrees or so, and the tides were climbing higher and higher. Their clothes were soaked to the bone and there was no way the fire would last them through the night. All Steve and Tony had was the damned suit. 

With one long, deep breath in, Steve closed his eyes, steeled himself, and made his decision. 

“Tony,” he said with his firmest tone, “Disengage the helmet,” he said. “If you don’t, you are going to die.”

The suit was holding Tony together, Steve supposed, and that was why he didn’t want to take it off. But he had no choice. They needed help and  _ quick _ .

Tony blinked slowly. His lips pursed and his eyebrows furrowed as if he were trying extremely hard to make his mouth form words. Steve waited patiently as he clutched his hand. Finally, Tony began to speak.

“J- JARVIS, d-disengage helmet.”

Steve’s shoulders collapsed when, with a hiss, the helmet fell to the ground, its cold, lifeless eyes staring up at him. When Tony’s skull was revealed to Steve, however, it was caked with blood. It didn’t seem to be recent, going by its dark, black color, and there wasn’t any fresh bleeding either. Still, Steve swallowed and wondered whether he’d just made a terrible mistake. 

Keeping Tony steady against him, he retrieved the helmet and spoke to it, hesitant and afraid.

“JARVIS, it’s Steve. Can you hear me?”

A crackle and the eyes began to glow blue. “I can hear you, Captain.”

Steve muttered  _ “Thank God” _ underneath his breath.

“I am afraid Sir is in dire need of assistance. I have called for a medivac, but they won’t be expected to arrive until dawn.”

“ _ Shit _ .” Steve glanced down at Tony, whose eyes were fluttering sleepily against pale cheeks. “Do you know what the extent of his injuries is? There’s not much we can use for first aid cause everything sank with the plane.”

“Sir is conscious and aware of what you are saying but is having difficulty communicating in turn. I fear that he may have suffered brain damage as a result of the crash but cannot say for certain. Other than that, my sensors have indicated severe bruising along his back, as well as a sprained left ankle. You should make sure- sure he’s- he’s warm throughout the night- night and monitor him for any signs of distress- stress.”

Steve stared at the helmet with concern as JARVIS’ voice began to glitch, the blue light beaming from the helmet’s eyes flickering. Whatever JARVIS had said toward the end had died out and turned into a horrible crackling noise that Steve couldn’t decipher. “JARVIS!” he called to the seemingly oblivious AI.

“Your injuries should see- see you through the night, however, Captain- Captain.”

“JARVIS. Stop. I think you’re running out of battery or something, or maybe you’re broken. I can’t hear a word you’re saying! Can you even hear me?”

“I apologize, Captain. I seem to be malfunction-functioning.” And with that, JARVIS’ lights suddenly flickered out.

It took all of Steve’s restraint not to chuck the helmet into the ocean and cry, but he ended up doing it anyway. Tony had long since grown unconscious, but he was still shivering in his sleep. 

Carding shaky fingers through his hair, Steve gently pushed Tony towards his chest and lowered them to the ground, curling his larger body around Tony’s smaller one. Warm, JARVIS said to keep him warm, so he could at least do that. The fire was crackling and still going strong. Hopefully, it would last them through the night. And though there were still parts of the suit still stuck on Tony’s body, at least it provided him with extra insulation.

“You’re gonna be okay, shellhead. I promise,” Steve whispered into Tony’s neck. His eyes began to droop closed. “I promise.”

And finally, his body succumbed to sleep.


End file.
